How much do grades matter?

Prep School Admissions
1

<p>Hey guys,</p>

<p>I just want some input... I go to a pretty competitive MA public school, and by overwhelming myself with six honors classes, it took me a while to get adjusted. I am certainly performing well now, but I think that I may get a B here or there this term, which scares me a bit! I had very good grades in middle school, but I'm wondering, for example, if I wanted to go to Phillips Andover, would they consider me even if my grades are a bit low? Or do I have virtually no chance compared with the other applicants? </p>

<p>So, how much do grades really matter in the process? I'm thinking a lot, because in most cases, one's academics are most important, and grades are how they know how academically oriented you are.</p>

2

<p>Sorry to be a bother, but can anyone answer? :)</p>

3

<p>IDK I’m in a similar situation, but in 8th grade</p>

4

<p>Grades are important, but “a B here or there” is not a deal breaker at all. Don’t worry.</p>

5

<p>Yeah I got mosty Bs and As and a C or two last year (ninth grade) and two years before that I failed reading one six weeks and I got a 36 on my final english exem that year too. And I took all regular classes. No PreAp or AP classes. I’m at Exeter now.</p>

6

<p>grades are the most important of the equation of grades, essays, scores, teacher references, interview ,sports/ecs(in that order). An occasional B in a competitive school is normal, as long as your over all average is a Bplus</p>

7

<p>Do they know when your school practices grade deflation to the max?</p>

8

<p>mhmm - I find it interesting how you rank the different application components. My ranking would be much different. </p>

<p>I bumped up an old thread that I think has an interesting discussion of this subject matter.</p>

9

<p>pls share your rankings then, creative</p>

<p>edit – saw the earlier thread, perhaps someone that knows how, can link it to this one</p>

10

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/240110-rate-following.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/240110-rate-following.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>My original thoughts from several years ago are on the 2nd post on the thread referenced above. Don’t think I’d change much today. Goaliedad had a nice, well thought out post on page 6 that I think makes for great reading.</p>

11

<p>Unless the grades are remarkably bad, grades matter less than you think because most applicants to BS have good to great grades. So, it won’t make or break one way or the other unless there’s some red flags. Frankly, it’s all about standing out, which is hard to do with grades given in this pool of applicants. Stand out with sports, or an EC, or dedication to something, interest to the school, legacy, URM, different experiences, anything.</p>

12

<p>I agree with erlanger, thanks you guys! I can’t wait for this term to be over so I can start anew, schools like to see improvement too, right? :)</p>

13

<p>Why thank you, Creative1 both for bringing back that thread and for the compliment.</p>

<p>To make that post easier to find, here is the link…</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/240110-rate-following-6.html#post3961656[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/240110-rate-following-6.html#post3961656&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>And I still stand behind it…</p>

<p>They still want whole people, not just statistics.</p>